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Although forced migration research on refugee family functioning clearly points to the potential breakdown of parental availability and responsiveness in the context of cumulative migration stressors, studies exploring attachment security in refugee children are surprisingly lacking so far. The authors report their findings from a 2-site, small-scale administration of an attachment measure, adapted for use with refugee children aged between 4 and 9 years from a reliable and validated doll-play procedure. We evaluated interrater reliability and conducted a qualitative analysis of refugee children's narrative response to identify migration-specific representational markers of attachment quality. The level of agreement among 3 independent coders ranged between .54 to 1.00 for both study samples, providing initial psychometric evidence of the measure's value in assessing child attachment security in this population. The exploratory analysis of migration-related narrative markers pointed to specific parameters to be used in parent-child observational assessments in future validation of the attachment measure, such as parental withdrawal or trauma-communication within the parent-child dyad.

This book contains a method model for the prevention of youth crime in Danish municipalities. The method model consists of instructions for conducting processual network meetings between traumatized refugee parents and the professional specialists working with their children on an intermunicipal basis. The book provides recommendations for organizing and implementing well-defined network meeting flows as well as methods for achieving systemic meeting management. The network-oriented approach emphasizes involvement of the parents, knowledge-sharing between specialist groups and dialogue and division of responsibilities between specialists and parents. The book is based on a method development project carried out in Karlebo municipality involving refugee families and welfare staff representatives in the municipality, the health system, and the police. The project was carried out with financial support from the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs, the Egmont Foundation and the Health Insurance Foundation. This book contains a method model for the prevention of youth crime in Danish municipalities. The method model consists of instructions for conducting processual network meetings between traumatized refugee parents and the professional specialists working with their children on an intermunicipal basis. The book provides recommendations for organizing and implementing well-defined network meeting flows as well as methods for achieving systemic meeting management. The network-oriented approach emphasizes involvement of the parents, knowledge-sharing between specialist groups and dialogue and division of responsibilities between specialists and parents. The book is based on a method development project carried out in Karlebo municipality involving refugee families and welfare staff representatives in the municipality, the health system, and the police. The project was carried out with financial support from the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs, the Egmont Foundation and the Health Insurance Foundation.

Udgivelsesdato: May AIM:To estimate change over nine months and over two years, as concerns the prevalence and level of pain in the head, back and feet, among previously tortured refugees settled in Denmark, and to compare associations between torture methods and the prevalence of pain at baseline and at follow-up.METHODS:Sixty-nine refugees previously exposed to torture in their home country were interviewed at a Danish rehabilitation clinic. Fifty-four accepted to be re-interviewed after nine months, and 47 were interviewed again 14 months later. Interviews focussed on the history of exposure to physical and mental torture and on pain in the head, back and feet at baseline and at follow-up.RESULTS:The mean cumulative duration of imprisonment was 1.7 years, and on the average more than 10 years elapsed between torture and examination. The most frequent physical torture method reported was beating (97%), whereas the main mental torture method was threats of death (97%). The prevalence of pain reported at the follow-up interviews did not differ significantly from that reported at baseline (pain in the head, 81% at baseline and 77% at 23-month follow-up; back, 78% and 81%; feet, 59% and 70%). The same pattern was found when examining the level of pain as indicated by Visual Analogue Scales. Pain in the feet at follow-up was associated with previous exposure to beating against the feet. Pain in the back at baseline and pain in the head at follow-up were associated with suffocation.CONCLUSION:More than ten years after the torture took place, survivors of torture continue to suffer from pain associated with the type of torture they had been subjected to. This presents a considerable challenge to future evidence-based development of effective treatment programmes.

Using an in-depth psychological assessment as reference, the aim of the study was to validate adult Middle Eastern refugees' own testimonies of their possible previous exposure to torture. The study group comprised 31 male and 43 female refugees, who accepted participation in a structured interview with closed questions and a following blinded in-depth psychological interview. According to the psychological interview, 30% (55% of males, 12% of females) had been exposed to torture. The sensitivity and the specificity of the structured interview in identifying previous torture was 82% and 92%, respectively, without significant differences concerning the refugee's gender. It is concluded that refugees' own testimonies of torture appear fairly valid. This enables anamnestic torture prevalence estimation in refugee groups, based on pre-structured interview techniques. Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT), Copenhagen, and Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Aarhus University.